Newbie as a question about scale...

[Anonymous]

Greetings all,

Like many of you I had a train set when I was a kid. I now have a son of my own and he recently started getting excited by trains, more specifically Thomas the Train. In my endeavours to buy him his beloved trains I stumbled into a train shop....I was instantly drawn back to the days when I had a train. I did get my sons Thomas Trains that day, but also picked up a few train hobby magazines for myself. I've been reading and researching non-stop. I have to admit, I have the bug!

I am currently in the process of trying to decide on scale. I have narrowed it down to either HO or N. Which brings me to my question about scale...(took long enough didn't I..haha)

I know the real life size of a HO scale locomotive/rolling stock, but what is the real life physical size of an N scale locomotive or piece of rolling stock?

I appeciate your responses.

Trevor

[egmurphy]

Welcome to the forum Trevor,

here are some representative sizes in N scale:

40' boxcar - 3-1/4"
GP-7 diesel - 4"
2-8-0 steam engine - 5-1/2" (incl tender)

Newer stuff tends to be longer.

HO is 1:87
N is 1:160

Therefore N is a little more than 1/2 the size of HO (in any particular dimension).

See also this chart:
http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/000/709htshz.asp

Regards

Ed

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ed. That's exactly what I was looking for. And WOW! So quick with the response. If this is usual for the forum I'm glad I found you all...

Many Thanks,
Trevor

DOH! I should have created a nifty logon ID...lol.